Activity

Event: On May 28, 2013, HRN Will Organize a Side Event at the UNHRC on the Right to Health in Fukushima

The United
Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health is due to submit
his fact finding mission's report on Fukushima to the 23rd session of
the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). To mark the
occasion, Human Rights Now (HRN) will organize a coinciding side
event at the UNHRC in Geneva.

On the day,
experts will appeal for immediate action to protect the right to
health of women, children and others affected by the nuclear accident
in Fukushima.

The
event will be held on Tuesday, May 28, 4:00 until 6:00 at the Palais
des Nations Room XXVII.

This
is a side event organized by Human Rights Now and is co-sponsored by
the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) and the
International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism
(IMADR).

Since
the March 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, individuals and
communities in Japan continue to be exposed to dangerous levels of
radioactivity. Contaminated areas raise urgent questions about the
consequent health effects for pregnant women, mothers, children and
others residents.

Residents
have a basic right to live in a safe and healthy environment,
however, so far authorities have failed to implement sufficient
protective measures and essential support that will allow them to
exercise this right. The right to access medical treatment and
adequate medical data about one's own body is being denied and this
issue needs to be addressed.

In
November 2012, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to
health, Mr. Anand Grover, visited Japan and conducted a thorough
investigation of the situation of affected people. In May 2013, he
will submit the mission's report to the 23rd session of the Human
Rights Council.

This
event will provide an opportunity for participants to learn from the
Special Rapporteur's findings and recommendations about how the
international framework of the right to health should be implemented
in Fukushima, as well as in other nuclear disasters.

Speakers
include a human rights expert from Japan, residents and civil society
groups from Fukushima. They will talk about how the lives and health
of local women, children and others in the Fukushima area continue to
be affected after the disaster and what should be done to provide
immediate relief.

Presentations
will be followed by a Q&A session.

Speakers (this
event is held in English and Japanese)

Mr.
Anand Grover - UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the
enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental
health

For
further information and pre-registration, please contact
info@hrn.or.jp

SPONSORING
ORGANIZATIONS:

HUMAN
RIGHTS NOW: Human Rights Now (HRN), an international NGO in
consultative status with the ECOSOC, is based in Tokyo with several
hundred members composed of lawyers, scholars, journalists and
concerned citizens. In July 2011, on behalf of a coalition of civil
society groups in Japan, Human Rights Now made a request to the
Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
for a Special Rapporteur to investigate the human rights situation
after the disaster. In response to the request, Mr. Anand Grover, the
Special Rapporteur on the right to health, visited Japan in November
2012. Recently, HRN submitted a joint statement, signed by more than
70 civil societies in Japan and worldwide, urging the IAEA and the
Japanese government to take a rights-based approach in response to
the nuclear disaster based on the recent preliminary findings and
recommendations issued by Mr. Grover in November. To raise awareness
of the situation in Fukushima after the nuclear accident, HRN NY has
organized human rights seminars and a press conference to inform the
international community about the ongoing crisis.
(http://hrn.or.jp/eng/)